TV News Wars: The Race to Start at 4:30am
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Channel 10 Sunrise anchor Frank Coletta said it best.
The veteran news anchor was talking about the station’s morning show new start time at 4:30am that had just been announced. Last week Coletta read a story letting people know about the time and then made reference that whoever made the decision must come in to work at 9am. Great line.
And likely true.
Starting later this month WJAR starts its "Sunrise" show and news broadcast day at 4:30am. Didn’t it used to be that “Sunrise” meant when the sun was coming up?
No more. More and more stations are launching their news earlier and earlier. And at least in this writer’s mind there is some room for doubt regarding whether this market is in real need of a newscast starting at 4:30am.
We have Warwick Avenue.
Not 5th Avenue.
This is not New York or Chicago
This is not New York or Chicago where the brutal commute forces people to rise practically in the middle of the night to get their work day going. Channel 10 News Director Chris Lanni disagrees, saying that HUT levels or “homes using Television” are on the rise in the middle of the night and that is why this move to the new time. “This newscast isn’t just for commuters (though plenty of people who commute to Boston are up at this time), but it’s also for the teachers, bakers, construction workers, fishermen and Frank’s Treadmill Troops who are all up well before dawn.”
The Need Is There
It was a big deal when stations around here announced they were starting at 5am – but this new time reflects this new era of television according to Rhode Island College Communications Professor Anthony Galvez. “Typically when a station makes a programming decision it is because market research indicates there is the potential for an audience. More than likely there are advertisers that would like to reach the viewers who work in industries that require an early workday commute."
There are TV stations around the country where the broadcast day starts at 4am if you can believe it. Again those are in big cities where a two-hour-plus commute one-way is the norm.
Channel 12 Goes To 4:30am
Channel 12 has also just announced that it too will start its Eyewitness News morning show at 4:30am on Monday, November 28—the same day as Channel 10.
Part of the reason for this added news time here in Providence is that both stations see an opportunity in the morning to try to gain viewers compared to the 6pm news. By 6pm – many of us already know what has happened that day so overall from a decade ago 6pm news numbers are way down. In addition, stations can add this extra half hour with very little or zero cost. The people are in place already. The anchors, technical people, traffic people etc. are up and going so they just come in earlier.
News Director Joe Abouzeid tells GoLocal that station research shows there are people out there ready and willing to watch. “One of the great things about living in Rhode Island is that we don’t regularly have the same kind of nightmarish commute as Boston and New York, but there are plenty of people out there from mail carriers to ER physicians who start their work shifts very early every day. There are others who just plain wake up early. It’s important that those viewers can count on us to give them all the news, weather and traffic information they need to start their day.”
Is a 4am start time next?
“I can’t rule out anything, but it’s not in our current plans to start at 4am,” said Abouzeid.
Never say never. Maybe we'll see 24-hour news in these parts before long.
Because if a station can sell advertising time against it - you'll see it.
Even if you are not awake to watch it.
